Desire (I Stand by You)
by Mechanical Orange
Summary: Darcy finds a strange box in her living room. There's only one person it could be from.


**A/N: This is probably as close to fluff or romance as I'm ever going to get, so I hope you enjoy! Please review!**

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It was just a box – a beautiful box to be sure, handsome well-crafted box of mahogany with smooth edges and golden trim. It was sitting on her coffee table when she arrived home from work. She knew it could only mean one of two things: either Loki was back, or Loki was in trouble.

Or both.

She sat down on the couch and peered intently at it. There were no hinges or handles; Darcy could see no way to open it at all. She reached out and ran a finger along one of the gold inlays. It was embossed with a serpent twisting around a large tree – Yggdrasil. The detailing was extremely intricate, every one of the snake's scale was etched with inhuman perfection, and Darcy knew such a box could only have been crafted on another planet.

Is that what Loki's been doing the past few weeks? Gallivanting around and making a box? Darcy was hardly pacified.

Three weeks ago Loki had just disappeared. No one knew where he was – not SHIELD, not Thor and not Darcy (who had been secretly hooking up with him for the past month). Due to the secret nature of her and Loki's relationship, inquiring after his whereabouts was difficult.

Coulson hadn't said anything (nor has she expected him to), but gave her a curious look before returning to his super secret SHIELD business.

When she asked Natasha and Clint the former just shrugged and the latter replied with a pointed, "Who cares?"

Steve was more polite, but just as helpful. "I don't know Miss Lewis; I don't see him very often." He gave her a kind smile before departing.

She found Tony and Bruce in the lab while Jane had gone out to lunch with Thor. They had no idea either, but Tony gave her a knowing smile that Darcy really, really didn't like. "Why do you want to know, Lewis?" he asked.

Darcy shrugged. "I don't know, I just thought it was weird that he just up and disappeared. Aren't you guys worried?" _Nice save, Darcy_, she thought to herself. _I'm just concerned about any potential Loki shenanigans._ Only, she knew better. Loki had been as good as anyone could expect the notorious God of Mischief to be, and even if he wasn't exactly _nice_, he wasn't killing anyone either.

"Uh-huh," Tony replied. "Well, who knows what he does or where he goes when no one's watching." He sidled up next to her. "Right?"

"I wouldn't worry about it, Miss Lewis," Bruce said. "He hasn't expressed any homicidal tendencies lately, and Thor keeps a pretty good eye on him. Have you asked him?"

"I was just about to," she said, easing away from a smirking Tony. "See you guys later."

Thor was probably the person who had the greatest chance of knowing where Loki was. Unfortunately he was always with Jane and Jane (though mostly absorbed in her crazy science) was not unaware of the way she and Loki looked at each other when they thought someone wasn't watching. She had managed to fend off Jane's nosy questions about their relationship until now, but asking Thor pointblank about his weird brother would ring a few alarm bells in Jane's giant brain.

Whatever, she would just suck it up. She missed Loki – for the sex of course. The mind-blowing, amazing, incredible sex.

The company wasn't terrible either, if she were honest.

And he had a tendency to get into trouble. If something were to happen to him… well, then she wouldn't be able to have amazing sex with him anymore. And that would be tragic. Not because of any other reasons, like the way he looks at her when she smiles at him, or how his snide remarks have lost their edge in favor of a playful sarcasm, the way he held her at night, or how his smile lit up his whole face.

It's just sex.

But Thor didn't know where Loki was either, and Darcy was barely able to escape Jane's inquisition.

And now there was a box in her living room. The golden image underneath her finger began glowing, and suddenly the snake moved. It wound its way around the tree, moving along the box and down its side, where it suddenly stopped and rose from the wood to form a handle.

Darcy reached for it, hesitant.

"Go ahead, open it."

Darcy spun around to see Loki standing behind her, looking quite pleased with himself.

"Loki?" she cried. "Where have you been?" She gestured to the box. "And what is this thing?"

"Open it and you shall see," he said, coming to sit down beside her.

With one last glance at Loki she did so, and peered inside to find… absolutely nothing.

"Well, that _is_ interesting," Loki said.

"What the hell is this all about?" Darcy asked. "Is this just another trick? You leave me for almost a month and then come back here for what? Just a few laughs?"

"I assure you, Darcy, this is not a joke." He closed the lid and the serpent slid back into its original position on the inlay. "Well, it seems to be functioning as it should."

"I'm so glad your stupid magical empty box works," Darcy muttered.

Loki turned his attention away from the box and onto Darcy, and took her hands in his. "My dear, I am sorry for leaving you, but I had some matters to attend. However, I brought you back a gift crafted by the most skillful dwarves of Svartalfheim."

"An empty box?"

"It was not supposed to empty when you opened it." Loki sighed. "I suppose I will be having words with those dwarves."

"Well, what was supposed to be inside it?" Darcy asked, curiosity burning at her.

"I cannot say."

"Oh, come on," Darcy pleaded. "It doesn't matter now; you can tell me. I promise I'll still act surprised."

He smiled slightly. "No, you misunderstand," he replied. "I literally cannot say as I do not know."

"What? Why?" She glanced at the box again. "Is it like one of those Kinder Egg things?"

"I do not know what a 'Kinder Egg thing' is, but I doubt it." He picked the box up and set it between them on the couch. "This is an ønske box," he said. "It means desire," he added at the look of confusion on her face. "It is designed to open only for you, and inside will be the gift that you desire most."

He paused, looking slightly nervous. "I hope you will not think it presumptuous of me," he said, "but I have designed it so that every year we are together it will yield another gift. However, seeing as how it is not working properly, I shall have to return to Svartalfheim to punish the incompetent dwarves who made it!" He made to stand, but Darcy put her hand on his to stop him.

"Loki, wait," she said. "I don't think it's broken."

"It must be," he replied. "How else do you explain its lack of contents?"

"Well," Darcy said, desperately fighting the blush she could feel blooming bright red on her cheeks. "When I opened the box I only wanted one thing, but I already had it."

"And what was that?"

"You." She leaned forward and gave him a quick kiss on the lips before she gave into the desire to lock herself in her room out of embarrassment.

Loki grinned and pulled her into another, much longer and more intense kiss. With lips and tongues and teeth and passion and pure, unadulterated desire. How could a pretty box compare to this?

"I am so sorry I left you," Loki whispered in between kisses. "I won't do it again."

"You better not."

"I will do my best to make it up to you," he said.

"See that you do."

He picked her up and carried her into the bedroom, box forgotten on the couch. It was an impressive gift, but Darcy thought that it would be empty for many years to come.


End file.
